


Legends

by a_walking_shadow



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, No "power the Dark Lord knows not", unless you count cleverly used propaganda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 22:26:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17948297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_walking_shadow/pseuds/a_walking_shadow
Summary: ‘King Arthur doesn’t exist’, Gellert says, wand drawing lazy arcs of light in the night-time air. ‘He never did. But the muggles- oh, how they dream.’James and Lily Potter are dead. Harry Potter is not. Voldemort made horcruxes and, one day, he will return.Albus Dumbledore considers this last fact, and decides he needs a legend. Luckily for him, the first two are the perfect setup for one.





	Legends

For the first time in decades, Albus Dumbledore runs. The mirror Hagrid had called him on is gripped tightly in one hand, although he doubts he’ll receive any more messages that way. His wand is clutched in the other.

Down the stairs, past the gargoyle, racing through the corridors. Bursting out of the doors of the great hall and into the chilly evening air. Sprinting over the lawns towards the forest, towards the apparition boundary. If only Fawkes had been with him, tonight. Then he could be there, already.

At least this way he has some time to think.

In his mind, the same two words pound out a rhythm, over and over and over again, his thoughts looping in circles around the message which tilted his whole word on its axis. Not “Voldemort’s gone”, although that’s certainly a relief.

The other one.

_Harry lives._

 

* * *

 

‘Fear doesn’t equal respect.’

‘Hmm?’ Sixteen-year-old Gellert glances up from his book, and sighs. ‘What is it now, Albus? Yet another problem with the plan? You _are_ good at finding those. I suppose it’s a good thing you’re on my side.’

Eighteen-year-old Albus rolls his eyes at his friends’ antics. ‘How are we supposed to win the loyalty of the wizarding world, exactly? Shows of force won’t work long term. Not on their own.’

Gellert just smirks. ‘I guess we’ll have to make sure it’s a good story, then.’

 

* * *

He apparates to Godric’s Hollow first, just to check.

James is downstairs, very definitely dead. He put up a fight, for all that there’s no sign of his wand- furniture splintered, walls marred by scorch marks, just enough blood on the carpet that Albus wonders if he actually managed to score a hit.

Carefully edging around the body of his former student, he begins to pick his way up the stairs.

The density of scorch marks is higher, here, arcing in both directions. Lily had her wand, then, and she certainly didn’t go down quietly.

She always was a terrifying duellist. Tom probably had quite the shock, discovering that.

 

* * *

‘King Arthur doesn’t exist’, Gellert says, wand drawing lazy arcs of light in the night-time air. ‘He never did. But the muggles- oh, how they _dream._ ’

Arthur, son of Uther, King of Britain. The Once and Future King. How many monarchs had claimed to be his descendants, exactly? Wasn’t that the entire reason the muggle monarchy had a Prince of Wales in the first place?

How useful it would have been, silencing critics by claiming a God-given right to the throne.

(How useful it would be, Albus thinks, if the magical world had something like that. Some position they could claim, which would grant them authority no one would challenge. Gellert grins when he voices this, and slides him a book of fairy tales.)

‘You always did want to play the hero, didn’t you?’

 

* * *

Lily Potter is dead as well. She probably was slain by the killing curse, but given the absolute chaos of the nursery, Albus wouldn’t be particularly surprised if she’d already been hit by another lethal, but slower-acting curse, and Tom just got bored of waiting for her to perish.

Then again, there are the remains of _something_ else in the corner. He’s hesitant to refer to them as human. Maybe he didn’t kill her quickly. Maybe he never got the chance.

Lily was such a brilliant student.

The magical explosion- well, implosion- created when a Horcrux is destroyed has never been studied in detail. This is mainly due to the fact that there are remarkably few horcruxes around to study, and also that on the rare occasion that one is found, destroying it quickly is usually of utmost importance.

Harry Potter is alive, sitting in his cot, and crying. There is a cut on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. Albus wonders, for a moment, then he catches sight of the jagged pieces of plaster scattered over the blankets, and he nods, tiredly, squashing his guilty conscience with a silent whisper that sounds an awful lot like Gellert.

This is it, then.

 

* * *

‘What is it that brought you to Godric’s Hollow in the first place?’

‘Oh, come on, Albus. You haven’t worked it out yet?’

‘The Deathly Hallows are just a myth, surely you don’t-’

‘Oh, don’t be absurd. Of _course_ I don’t believe that three brothers met capital-D Death and beat him, and he gave them a bunch of gifts. Then again, I’m not the one who needs to believe, am I?’

 

* * *

‘As unbelievable as it may seem’, he says solemnly, ‘I believe that young Harry is responsible for Lord Voldemort’s demise.’

Hagrid looks awed- not disbelieving, though. Then again, Hagrid has always been easily led. Hopefully the rest of the wizarding world are just as gullible.

‘Yes. You see this scar? It shows the signs of Dark Magic. I believe that Lord Voldemort attempted to cast the killing curse on Harry, but for some reason, it backfired.’

‘Backfired? Headmaster, I’ve never heard o’ that before!’ Again, awe, not disbelief. This might just work.

‘No, Hagrid, I’m not surprised. I don’t believe it ever _has_ happened before. Now, I need to go inform the minister- could you watch Harry for me? I’ll need you to bring him to his aunt’s house, here’s the address- I’ll see you in a few hours. Oh, and Rubeus?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Unfortunately, I doubt you’ll have any success healing that scar. I believe he’ll have it forever, given the power of the curse which cast it.’

‘I… all right, headmaster. I probably shouldn’t’a risked healing charms anyway, wouldn’t want to hurt ‘im.’

 

* * *

‘People like legends’, Gellert says. ‘People trust legends. And I think, if we can do this- if we can claim to be the Masters of Death- then no one will dare to stand against us. What would be the point?’

 

* * *

‘Good luck, Harry Potter’, Dumbledore says, quietly, as he places the infant on a doorstep. (Every orphaned child needs an evil stepmother, that’s just how the stories _go_. He wishes there was another way. But he can’t take the risk.)

Minerva had an easier time accepting that Harry survived the killing curse than she did the story about blood wards. That, more than anything, convinces him that this ploy will work.

After all, people always do love a good story.

**Author's Note:**

> Point one: Sorry for Hagrid. I don't really know how to write accents. 
> 
> Point two: The whole "Arthur never existed" thing: There's a school of thought stating that Arthur is an entirely fictional creation, made up to inspire the British population to fight back against pirates (i.e. Vikings, Irish, anyone else generally causing trouble at the time.) Kind of like Hercules, if you will. Personally, I think that makes a lot of sense. Obviously, it's entirely possible there was actually a historical Arthur which the myths were based off, it's also possible that Arthur himself is an amalgamation of a whole bunch of different folk tales and histories. 
> 
> Point three: Dumbledore's comment about the Prince of Wales being related to Arthurian legends. Again, this is debated. (Welcome to Dark Ages History! We have like, zero solid facts. Enjoy your stay! This is why I do archaeology instead.)  
> There is a legend that King Edward I, upon conquering Wales, promised the Welsh a prince of Wales, born in Wales, who would ascend the throne. Then he made sure his wife gave birth to his newborn son in Wales, neatly circumventing giving the Welsh any control over their country.  
> Why did he bother with this, you ask? Why, exactly, would King Edward bother to keep the title of Prince of Wales in any format? Why not abolish it entirely?  
> Well. Due to a complicated set of dubious claims and weird historical circumstances, Wales had ended up being able to claim that it was a) the last holdout of the "Romano-British Empire", and thus had a right to rule England as a whole, and hence b) could claim to be descendants of Arthur, who at some point had gone from a Pagan character to a Romano-Christian one. They also had the town of Caerleon, a Roman fort which has been linked to Arthur (possibly as Camelot itself) by many writers including Geoffrey of Monmouth, who is one of the most notable (if dubiously accurate) writers of Arthurian legend. 
> 
> So there you have it. Dark Ages history is a mess which makes no sense. 
> 
> Oh, and the legend of King Arthur has actually been used to shore up claims to the throne in the past.


End file.
